The first online course

Rita Dove was US Poet Laureate in the early 90’s.  The First Book captures the magic of the lightbulb that comes with reading comprehension.  This week I asked 1000 friends at iNACOL to imagine the online learning experience that for students yielded the same sensation…and the end of the world as they knew it.

The First Book

Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well…maybe a little.

More a nip, like.  A tingle.

It’s pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.

You may fall in.

Sure, it’s hard to get started;

remember learning to use

knife and fork?  Dig in:

you’ll never reach bottom.

It’s not like it’s the end of the world-

just the world as you think

you know it.

Rita Dove